Rallying the Whole Village.

James P. Corner and his team of Yale-based editors have brought to life a now-fashionable African proverb in their book, Rallying the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education.

Twenty-eight years of development and successful implementation make Corner's process far more than just another suggested reform strategy. It is one of the very few that has documented significant gains over time in academic achievement, behavior and school adjustment, student self-concept, and classroom and school climate.

Readers should tackle Chapter 6 first to get a concise sense of the actual successes of Comer's School Development Program.

The Comer process is driven by three guiding principles: consensus, collaboration, and no fault. It is a reform process built on child development theory that places students at the center. It goes well beyond making people feel good or developing positive community relations. It can be replicated and sustained and, perhaps most significantly, will outlast changes in leadership.

As a former school superintendent who met only limited success with school reform, I wish I had had the benefit of learning from the Comer process.

(Rallying the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education, by James P. Comer, Norris M. Haynes, Edward T. Joyner, and Michael Ben-Avie, Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, N.Y. 10027, 1996, 224 pp. with index, $21.95 softcover, $45 hardcover)